


Crashing Down

by bilgegungoren00



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, But I promise a happy ending, F/M, Karamel Hiatus, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, Loss, Pain, just a warning, karamel hiatus week 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 20:37:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13865559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilgegungoren00/pseuds/bilgegungoren00
Summary: The United Airlines plane, flying from National City, CA, to New York, NY, crashed shortly after its departure.Or, in which the plane Kara was supposed to be in crashes, leaving no survivors behind.Karamel Hiatus Week 3





	Crashing Down

**Author's Note:**

> hey hey hey! 
> 
> so, i know this is a little bit late, buttttt this is my contribution to karamel hiatus week 3! it's just been a crazy week in school, so i could barely find the time to write :/ but i hope you like this!

It was always a bittersweet feeling for Mon-El to come back to an empty home after work. Being a bar owner, he almost always worked late, coming home to Kara’s sweet “hey, babe” and a little kiss pressed on his lips. And sometimes, if he was stuck at work later than usual, there’d be the sweet smell of takeout food, as Kara couldn’t even make an omelet if her life depended on it. He was usually the cook at home.

But there were also the times a cold and dark living room greeted him instead of his wife’s warm smile, when she’d gone off somewhere for a work trip, as she frequently did. Being a famous reporter wasn’t easy. And today was that kind of a day. Kara had left a couple of hours ago for the airport to fly to New York for a “world-damn-changing news,” as she described it when they talked on the phone. He was proud that she was so good at her job that _she_ was always the one asked to take care of these kinds of important work, but he’d also be lying if he didn’t miss her like hell whenever she was away. Hence the bittersweet feeling.

He dropped his coat and briefcase right next to the coat hanger before turning on the lights. Moving to the living room, he decided to turn on the TV before preparing himself something to eat, to fill the silent house with at least some sound. He flicked through the channels until he saw a newscast, and then he moved to the kitchen.

At least until his ears actually caught what was being said on the news.

“…the United Airlines plane, flying from National City, CA, to New York, NY, crashed shortly after its departure.” He stopped dead in his tracks, midway to the kitchen.

_That’s impossible._

His hand was shaking as he rushed back to the living room, turning up the television’s volume to be…to be sure. As if he didn’t know which airline Kara would be flying with. As if he didn’t know where she’d be going. As if he didn’t know there was only _one_ United Airlines plane flying from Los Angeles to New York at this time of the day.

Still, he refused to believe that…until he was sure. Until he knew…

He didn’t even want to think about it.

He sat down on the couch when his knees felt too weak to carry him. The reporter woman on the TV continued.

“United Airlines plane, flight number UA2031, was carrying 213 passengers and eight crew members.” Mon-El didn’t need to check Kara’s flight information to know the flight numbers matched. “The plane went down near Griffith Park about five minutes after its departure. While the search and rescue attempts are still ongoing, there believed to be no survivors from the crash, United Airlines officials say.”

_No survivors… No survivors… No survivors…_ Those two words circled Mon-El’s mind, making him feel like he was drowning, suffocating, something, as his vision blacked out and his ears started ringing. He could barely pull himself together. _No survivors._ It had to mean…

No. _No._ He refused to believe that. Kara was alive. She had to be alive. She was… She was such a strong woman. A mere plane crash couldn’t take her down. She’d fight through it to survive, to…to come back to him. _I will come back to you,_ she’d promised once, when they were first separated by a long work trip. _I will always come back to you._ She couldn’t just…just…

He reached for his phone, but his hands were shaking so badly and his vision became so blurry because of his tears that it took him a couple of tries to call Kara. He pressed the phone to his ear as he stood up and started pacing, just to have something to do.

The call went directly to voicemail. _Hey there! If you couldn’t reach me, I’m either in a super important meeting or on a flight, so please leave a message and I will—_

He cut the call short as even Kara’s voice brought him to the edge of breaking down. He immediately called her again.

The result was the same.

His heart jumped in his chest, until a small voice in his brain, the only sensible voice that seemed to be left, whispered something. _Her phone would be on flight mode._ Of course. He couldn’t reach her because her phone would be turned off. In a moment, when she managed to shake off the trauma of the crash, she’d turn on her phone and she’d call him. Right? She’d call him right away, to let him know that she was okay, to tell him she was coming home. She _always_ came back home.

He stopped, staring at his phone, waiting for her to call. Waiting. Even as his vision blurred. Even as his hand started shaking. For thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes, three…

He didn’t know how much time had passed until he had to admit…she wasn’t calling. He felt a tear sliding down his cheek, and finally…finally, desperation took over. Finally, something clicked in his mind, and he had to accept that…that maybe…that maybe Kara was really… _gone_.

His knees gave out and he fell onto the couch, his phone dropping somewhere on the floor. He didn’t even care about it. He didn’t care about the woman talking on TV, talking about the possible reasons for the crash and the ongoing rescue attempts. He didn’t care about his phone ringing, probably because people were calling him about the plane crash. He didn’t have the strength to answer and say it out loud—that Kara was gone.

She was _gone._

He wouldn’t see her again. There would be no more breakfasts in bed, no more cuddling on the couch and watching a movie, no more “welcome home” kisses and “have a nice day” hugs, no more laughs filling the house with warmth or touches that always made him feel like home… There would be no more fancy galas that Kara always got invited to, no more casual dinners at a fast food restaurant in their PJs, no more quiet working time in cafes that made him feel more at peace than anything else, no more strolls at midnight, or walks down the park or by the beach… There would be no more Kara, his constant ever since he was twenty, his wife, his partner in crime, his life, his everything. They’d been together for the last sixteen years, and in those sixteen years, she’d become his normal, so much so that he couldn’t imagine a life without her. He never _needed_ to. He thought… He thought…

He thought he’d never have to live without her. But, he guessed, you never thought you’d lose someone you loved until it happened.

* * *

“Hey, Mon-El,” Kara said as she pressed her forehead to the car window, looking out at the buildings passing by. “I’m calling you for the third time now, but I…I really, really need to talk to you right now. Enough to get the taxi driver’s phone for it.” Taking a deep breath, she looked at her purse longingly, where her now-broken phone resided. She couldn’t believe, in her rush to _run_ to the airport under heavy rain, she dropped the damn thing into a puddle…and realized it too late. She couldn’t even get it to open now.

“I…missed my flight, if you couldn’t tell. I’d just… I’d gotten too cocky, stayed too late at work, and I couldn’t make it. Damn LA traffic. Anyway…” She shook her head and straightened up, looking at the road in front of her. They shouldn’t be too far away from home now. “I’m coming home. I’ll be there shortly. I just…would really like to hear your voice, I guess. After the couple of hours I had… Guess I’ll be seeing you home… Love you.”

She ended the call and reached to the front of the car to hand it to the taxi driver before leaning back. Hours wasted for a missed plane, and not only that, she’d also have to wake up at, like, 4 a.m. tomorrow to fly to New York with a brand new flight. Just… Just horrible.

She sighed, resting her forehead on the cold window again to calm her nerves. _I just have to hold on for five more minutes._

It didn’t even take five minutes for the taxi to get home. She tipped the taxi driver a good amount for putting up with her during the drive before getting out, carrying her large and heavy suitcase. It was supposed to be a long trip, at the end. Long trip…shortened by a day.

Sighing at her stupidity for like the hundredth time that day, she entered her apartment, pulling the luggage behind her. In a matter of seconds, she was in front of her door, dreaming of a night spent cuddling with Mon-El—

“—It’s my _wife_ we’re talking about here!” She stopped for a moment with the yell coming from inside the house. Huh. Was that Mon-El? She took a couple of steps, her keys jiggling in her hands. “What do you mean you—you can’t say anything?” Mon-El continued. He seemed like he was…crying? His voice sounded shaky, for sure. _What the hell is going on?_ “You _understand_ my pain? Are you kidding me? Was your partner on that plane?”

She pushed open the door finally, pulling her suitcase with her, only to find Mon-El pacing in the living room. His back was turned to her, but even from the way he was running his hand through his hair and just how much he was shaking, he knew something was wrong.

The pillows that were thrown around, the broken vase right next to the drawer with water splattered around and flowers on the floor, and kicked over stool was also a small indication of that. Something had happened while she was struggling with her flight. But what?

“Don’t claim to understand me, then! I just… I just want to know if there are…if there are survivors of the crash. Please. I need to know.”

_The crash?_ Her eyes turned to the TV, only to find the images of a crashed plane passing through with a reporter reciting what happened. _The plane crash. Is that…?_

It took her a couple of seconds to put the pieces together. _Oh, my God…_ He must’ve thought…

“No one?” She managed to snap out of her thoughts with the desperation in his voice and finally spoke.

“Mon-El?”

It seemed like even her soft whisper managed to cut through his panic, if the way he quickly whirled around was any indication. Despair and disbelief had tinted his face, yet Kara also saw something there. Hope. And upon seeing her…shock.

His phone slipped down from his hand and dropped on the floor. “Kara?” The way his voice cracked broke Kara’s heart, so much so that she had to blink away her tears to keep herself from crying.

“I missed my flight,” she felt the need to explain. It felt almost unbelievable that she’d been so _angry_ at herself for it a couple of hours ago, considering how grateful she felt now. If she’d been on that plane… She’d be dead. _No one,_ Mon-El had uttered before she called for him, which could only mean… No one survived the crash. She’d be dead, along with everyone else.

She didn’t even want to think about what Mon-El would do if that had happened.

“I’m here,” she continued when she saw doubt creeping into his eyes. She needed to make sure that he believed she was real. She needed him to know she was alive. “You’re not dreaming, Mon-El.” He took a step forward. “I’m really here. I’m really alive—“

Her words were cut when Mon-El rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back immediately.

She didn’t know what was worse: trying to keep her tears at bay to at least offer some comfort to Mon-El, or feeling just how badly he was shaking in her arms. He must’ve been… _terrified_. Even that was probably an understatement. _I just… I just want to know if there are…if there are survivors of the crash. Please. I need to know._ She’d never heard him sound as desperate as when he said those words.

“I thought you were—“ he started, but she stopped him before he could continue. Saying that word would only make everything all the more real, and neither of them needed that now.

“Shh. I’m here. It’s in the past now.” She ran her fingers through his hair, blinking away a couple of stray tears.

“I thought I lost—“

“Shh.” She pressed a small kiss on his cheek. “I’m here. See?” She pulled back, running her hands down his arm so that she could hold his hands and press them on her cheeks. She never turned her eyes away, though, so that Mon-El could see the life in them, so that it would maybe erase the image of her dead eyes from his mind. His thumbs absentmindedly brushed her cheekbones. She offered him a smile. “You can see me. You can hear my voice. You can feel me.” She moved his hand over his heart. It might be beating erratically—it had been a stressful couple of minutes—but it was beating still. “My heart is beating. You didn’t lose me, Mon-El.” Mon-El’s eyes flickered from her eyes to her chest. He nodded a couple of seconds later, a tear slipping down his cheeks, before he moved forward to hug her again. He buried his face onto his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he whispered in a muffled voice. “Yeah, you’re alive.”

* * *

It was a miracle. Even Mon-El, who lost his belief in miracles or any kind of a God a long time ago—having shitty parents tended to do that to you—had to admit that it was too good to be a mere coincidence. Not even a coincidence, a barrage of coincidences piled together would be needed to prevent Kara from boarding that plane, and the fact that all of them actually came together… A miracle.

At least he couldn’t help thinking that as he lied on the couch with Kara, his arms wrapped around her and her back pressed on his chest. She was alive, in his arms right now, instead of dead under a plane wreck, and that was nothing short of miraculous.

It was also terrifying to think just how close he’d gotten to losing her.

The thought sent shivers down his spine, and he couldn’t help leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her hair. Kara moved her hand to his as a response and squeezed it.

“I’m not going to disappear, Mon-El,” she said softly, turning around to look at him. A small smile was pulling her lips. “You know that, right?”

“I’m just making sure,” he had to say. It’d kill him to wake up and find that this was all just a dream and his wife was actually on that plane. “I got so close to losing you, Kara. I’m not… I’m not taking any chances.”

Kara grimaced at that. “That bad?” Mon-El could only gulp. “You wanna talk about it?” Her tone suggested that it was just an offer, that he didn’t have to say anything if he didn’t want to, but a part of him just wanted to get rid of the weight on his chest. Wanted Kara to know just how special she was to him. Not only special, but…but normal as well. His normal. Losing something special hurt as well, yes, but losing something that you were so used to having turned your world upside down.

“When I saw the news… At first, I didn’t know what to think,” he admitted, turning his eyes to their hands that were clasped together. “I thought there was no way. No way that you were dead, no way that I just lost you…so unexpectedly. You were… You _are_ so strong, so full of life, like a…like a warrior. And warriors didn’t die, right? They fought through whatever was thrown in their way, and I thought you’d fight, too. I thought you’d fight to stay alive, and you’d call me. It took me some time to come to terms with the fact that…you couldn’t fight yourself through a plane crash.”

“Mon-El—“ Kara whispered, but he ignored her and pushed through, knowing he’d break down if he stayed quiet too long.

“I almost broke down right then and there, thinking I lost you, but I…I just couldn’t accept it that easily. I just couldn’t accept that I lost everything in a matter of minutes. So I…I called the airport, the Airlines, anyone I could think of, probably pissing off some people, but I had to try. I still had hope. Until I had confirmation that no one survived the crash, I held onto that hope. For… For nothing, really. No one survived the crash.”

He still remembered the moment the lady from the United Airlines told him that there were no survivors. No words could describe the fear he felt then.

“I thought I would never see you again. And I didn’t know… I didn’t know how to live without you.”

“Hey.” Kara cupped his cheek and stopped him before he could break down sobbing. She wiped away his tears. “You didn’t lose me.”

“I could’ve.”

“You _didn’t_ lose me, Mon-El,” she insisted, running her fingers through her hairs. Her voice was so harsh that he had to agree with her. “Focus on that, okay? The plane crash is… It’s horrible, yes, but you didn’t lose me.” He nodded, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. Yes, he didn’t lose her. She was here, with him, and he had to focus on that.

“Does it make me a terrible person to feel relieved that you weren’t on that plane?”

“No. It makes you human.” She smiled at him before pressing a kiss on his lips. A reassuring kiss, showing that not only they were together, but she understood him and his feelings, and she could even relate to them. Showing that she was there for him as always.

“Can I ask you something?” he said after he pulled back, moving his hand to her waist. She arched her brow.

“Should I be scared?”

“No,” he chuckled. “No. I just… I was wondering whether you’d be okay with me coming with you tomorrow. To New York. I just…” He stopped to take a deep breath. “I don’t think I can handle you flying without me. Not after today.” Even if he knew that the possibility another plane crash happening so soon was really, really small—which was actually a bit misleading if his high school math wasn’t failing him, since a plane crashing tomorrow had no connection to today’s plane crash, but still—he felt like he’d freak out if he knew Kara boarded another plane. It would…take some time to get over that trauma. “I won’t get in the way of your job or anything, I just want to—“

“Of course you can,” Kara interrupted his ramble with a sympathetic smile. “It’s about time we have a little vacation anyway. If you can take time off from work.” Mon-El snorted.

“I own the bar. I think I can give myself some vacation.”

“Good.” Kara’s smile widened. “Good.” She snuggled into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. They fell into a comfortable silence again, until Kara interrupted it in a couple of minutes.

“You know what, Mon-El?” she said. Mon-El looked down at her.

“What?”

“We’ll be together forever.” He couldn’t help smiling at the confidence in her voice. It might be a complete lie—no one could be that sure of the future—but it felt good even just hearing those words. And who said they couldn’t be the couple breaking the odds?

“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile. “Yeah, we will.”

 


End file.
